Victorian Mumsnet

[PlayOnWurtz]

Brought over from another thread...

AIBU to think I've left it too late by starting my ds in the mining profession at 5?

How old is too old to go up chimneys?

What size coal is right for my fire?

Batghee- that picture is ... .
I have to question your respectability.

i an Amy brilliant

Asmoto Please consider: Caorich will not inherit her husband's estate however he meets his end. It will pass to his heir, the man nearest in blood to him. She may have a small income (her jointure) out of his estate if the marriage settlement provides for one - but that will cease if she remarries or ceases to be chaste,

Of course I appreciate that as a woman you would not understand these matters.

preemptive Let Porc Longue is a most elegant solution. It conveys the USP of my wares, whilst being incomprehensible to the majority of my customers ( and the local constabulary).

Dear Ladies, my name is Mrs William Hilary Jocelyn Johnathon Carol Meridith Williams. My dear late husband Mr William Williams died 3 months ago in the African colonies leaving me destitute with 7 children ranging in age from newborn to 5 years. My husband has a 100% share in a diamond mine close to the Niger River. However his funds have been detained by the Authorities.

I would beg for your help to release these funds to us his grieving family by buying a share in the diamond mine. Your investment will be rewarded 100 fold when the value of the diamonds in the mine are recouped. I have a bag of diamonds which can be inspected at any time to allow you to assess the quality of the seam.
To reserve the opportunity to take part in this opportunity please contact my solicitors Messrs Onest and Troo at 12 Oxford Street London with a deposit of ten thousand pounds.
Yours Sincerley,
Mrs William Hilary Jocelyn Johnathon Carol Meridith Williams.

circle unfortunately I am not in a position to invest, however I believe there are a number of respectable women in the baby farming business who would take the smaller children off your hands for a modest fee. Are the older children well nourished? I may be able to use a couple in my shop, to help ease the financial burden?

Is there a younger boy who could be sold to a chimney sweep?

lightdrizzle

May I also be so bold as to recommend Lacebook ? There is plenty of advice there for your haberdashery needs.

My youngest dd has the sickness. I fear she will not last til sunrise. Please help. I cannot call for the doctor. I do not have the required penny. I have just used the last of our surviving kitchen chair to fuel the fire as DH was laid off last year and there is no coal to warm her.
Only 6 of my 14 children have survived infancy. I just cannot lose this one as well. Any suggestions? I am desperate.

Dear Mrs William Williams

Gracious what a bind. I will of course be delighted to invest in this excellent and legitimate-sounding venture. I hope it will be acceptable to pay with four foundling children?

My kids keep complaining about the broken biscuits I buy for them. They think I'm made of money and should buy ones that aren't broken. Aibu to think this entitled attitude is a modern phenomenon?

There's a few names on here that I'll have to add to my spread sheet.
I'll just go and get the sheet, spread it out, and find my ink and pen.

dowhat - you appear to be a time-traveller from 1960s MN...but I never complained about a broken biscuit

batghee - I'm appalled by that photograph, the size of some of them is beyond all bounds of taste. The hats, I mean, obviously.

Only yesterday, a rather scrawny looking young thing stole 2 loaves of bread from my DH bakery. She claims she was starving!
AIBU- to think if you are that poor, you should be in the workhouse, with gruel to eat?

Yvlamoon starving or not, Thou Shalt Not Steal is a commandment that she broke. She should be deported to Australia. But not before she has been beaten soundly.

Broken biscuits are available to buy if you have the funds. I sometimes treat the children. Errol perhaps you don't have the wherewithal to procure such biscuits?

I sometimes treat the children.

What manner of abhorrence is this? Children should be seen and not heard. Control yourself woman. Treats indeed!

And who pays for these 'treats'? Are you not grateful for a roof over your head? Are you not supplied with warmth and sustenance? Do your duty woman!

(as an aside, I'm so pleased I didn't live in the Victorian age).

Dearest Ladies. My nerves are playing up again but my DH merely dismisses my concerns as just the thoughts of a silly little creature and to not over work my feeble brain thinking of such things.
You see we only have (unmarried as yet) daughters and if the unthinkable should happen to my DH, I'm not sure how we would get on. You see the estate would pass to his third cousin, once removed, who I have only had the fortune to encounter once at our dear uncle's summer ball a few years ago and he wasn't the most amenable of gentlemen.
Oh dear I fear I do go on a bit and I suppose there is nothing to be done.

Nanny always says "spare the rod and spoil the children" I feel uncomfortable with this but then again it didn't do me any harm.

Dh wants me to cut down their 2 hour visits from the nursery as he feels I am undermining Nanny's strict regime. AIBU not to?

AIBU to think that it is shocking the University of Cambridge continues to deny Newnhamites & Girtonians degrees four whole years after Philippa Fawcett placed above the Senior Wrangler? The day after the publication of the class marks The Telegraph said the whole citadel of learning lies open and defenceless before the victorious students of Newnham and Girton. There is no longer any field of learning in which the lady student does not excel - how can it be right that men who merely scrape a third are awarded a degree while women who excel are granted only a university certificate? The University of London has been awarding degrees to women for almost twenty years and still seems to be standing...

AIBU to think that it is grossly unfair my proficiency as a bicyclist must be demonstrated to the satisfaction of College staff before I may keep & use a machine in Cambridge, but there is no equivalent test for male undergraduates? One frequently sees them careering about the streets in a highly dangerous fashion; and I have it on good authority from the brother of a friend that many of them have never cycled before coming up, yet they may choose to terrorise the innocent pedestrians of Cambridge (& indeed frequently startle the horses) without any obstruction, whilst experienced & competent young ladies are forced to walk until such a time as their proficiency test can be scheduled.

AIBU to think that our newly-founded rowing club should be thinking of racing? We've been going for a year, so long enough to get a good sense of form; and various of us are experienced coxes. It seems terribly unfair that our rowing is expected to be limited to splashing about on the river for fun when we could challenge Girton and even London and of course Lady Margaret Hall, Somerville, St Hugh's - and that new one, St Hilda's...

AIBU to think that more women should be encouraged to train as doctors? Last year my cousin became the first woman to qualify as a doctor in Ireland. It seems absurd, one female doctor for the whole of the island of Ireland. Surely there are complaints which one would feel more comfortable discussing with another woman? And would it not be comforting for children? I know that Florence Nightingale disagrees vehemently with the idea of women doctors, believing that they should be nurses & nurses only; however, while she has undoubtedly revolutionised nursing training & practice, she did also think it appropriate to carry an owl in her apron pocket while on duty. Possibly not somebody who should be given the final word on things.